When my wife Amber and I married each other, a lot changed for both of us in the days immediately after our marriage. For instance, we went from two separate bank accounts to one, joint bank account.

All of a sudden someone else could see everything I was spending my money on. I remember well the days before I got married, when I could buy video games and technological gadgets without really asking anyone for permission, just because I wanted to.

Those days are long, long gone.

Things changed because I became responsible for more than just myself.

Before we got married, I had a car and, Amber did not. After we were married, if someone asked Amber if she had a car, she’d say yes, of course I do. My things stopped being my things and became our things. In effect, my stuff became her stuff. And while it took some getting used to, I really didn’t mind. Why is that? Because the relationship was worth it.

In David Allen’s classic book on personal productivity, Getting Things Done he describes an ideal state of mind:

Imagine throwing a pebble into a still pond. How does the water respond? The answer is, totally appropriately to the force and mass of the input; then it returns to calm. It doesn’t overreact or underreact.

So why do we care about this?

A mind like water is a disciplined mind, a mind focused on the right things, at the right times. David Allen places this in the context of personal productivity, getting the things you need to get done, done. David Allen’s Getting Things Done system can help you clear the clutter from your daily task list and help you order your life in a way that is consistent with your values.

My good friend J.B.W. Tucker is one of the deepest, most logical thinkers I know, and he disagrees with me on whether the Reformation is worth celebrating.

I tend to view it as a tragic necessity at best, but Tucker makes a compelling argument that the Reformation wasn’t just necessary, but ultimately good. Because of this, it’s worth the celebration for him.

We may not see eye-to-eye on every aspect of this, but there’s a ton of great stuff worth thinking about in his essay. Check it out now, and don’t forget to sign up for his mailing list so you can get more of his thought-provoking work.